Track Listing

1. 1. Allegro moderato
2. 2. Andante commodamente
3. 3. Allegro non troppo
4. 4. Allegro moderato

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #286456 in Music
• Released on: 2008-03-11
• Number of discs: 1

Album Description
Samuel Friedmann graduated from the Kharkov Conservatory as a violinist in 1964 and from the Leningrad Conservatory as a conductor in 1966. In 1973, he immigrated to Israel and began his international career. He has been Musical Director or Chief Conductor of the Haifa Symphony in Israel (1973-75), the Württembergische Philharmonie in Germany (1979-83), and the St. Gallen Opera House in Switzerland (1983-89).

Customer Reviews

Echt-Russian Music...(Reissue of ASIN: B000026D38)...
.
(Disc is reissue of ASIN: B000026D38 with different cover art.)

This fine symphony by the short-lived Vasily Kalinnikov is a splendid work filled with echt-Russian themes. Apparently the piece had some little currency at the Fin de Siècle--endorsed by Tschaikovsky, seeing performances in Mosko, Vienna, and Berlin.

Kalinnikov--(like Arensky)--succumbed to tuberculosis, though he tried to stave-off the disease by residing at Yalta (see Chekhov's story "The Duel" for a picture of Russian life in the Crimea during the later-19th Century The Duel and Other Stories (Dodo Press)).

Like Arensky's First Symphony, Kalinnikov's g-minor Symphony features fine orchestration with Russian folk melodies. Arensky: Symphony No. 1 and Premiere Recordings
Both Symphones should be more often enjoyed.

Kalinnikov especially sounds like an excellent fusion of Borodin, Glazunov, and R.-Korsakov--with hints of Bruckner.

Movement I, for example, employs a curious "rising" motif expounded by tubas and horns in a Brucknerian manner. The theme is repeated three times.
Movement II (Andante Commodamente) seems quasi-Brucknerian--(or even presciently Mahlerian) in the use of harp, horns, and English horn.
Movement III (scherzo) is especially Borodinesque, by turns both plangent and playful in the use of English horn and flute, too suggesting a certain grandeur in the tutti passages. Borodin: Orchestral Works
Movement IV (Allegro) is rousing in the Borodinian fashion and attempts a cyclical method by reviewing the "rising" motif of Movement I.

Not to be "cheeky," but another reviewer carps of the relaxed tempi of this realization. Other reviewers chide the brisk tempi of Järvi Kalinnikov: Symphony Nos. 1 & 2 and Kuchar Kalinnikov: Symphonies Nos. 1 & 2. I prefer this more expansive Brucknerian reading, and the price is right. Might check Svetlanov Kalinnikov: Symphony No. 1; Rimsky-Korsakov: Orchestral Work .
.

Nice to hear another Kallinikov recording, but . . .
I am one who enjoys the music of this short-lived, late 19th century Russian, so it is good to see another recording of his first symphony. To me though, the performance is lackluster, and does nothing to promote more recognition for the composer. Better by far is Naemi Jaarvi's recording of both Symphony No. 1 and Symphony No. 2 - a flat-out joy to listen to.